Options Trading News

JP Morgan has been rebounding, but one trader sees little further upside.

A block of 1,800 October 44 calls were sold for $0.19, and about 40 minutes later a block of 9,000 was sold for the same price, according to optionMONSTER's systems. Open interest in the strike was 3,001 at the start of the day, so this is a new position.

JPM is down 1.5 percent to trade at $40.72. Shares were below $31 at the start of June but have rallied since. The bank traded above $42 last Friday, its highest level since the start of May.

Today's call selling is a bet that JPM won't be much above that price over the coming weeks. If they were sold naked the trade has an initial bearish bias, but it can profit with the stock anywhere below $44.19. If the options were sold against long shares as a covered call, then the trade is bullish up to the strike price but not beyond. (See our Education section)

optionMONSTER® provides stock market insight, advanced options education, and actionable trade ideas to meet the needs of do-it-yourself investors. After spending decades in the trading pits of Chicago, Jon 'DRJ' and Pete Najarian founded the company in 2005 to help people better manage their own investment portfolios.